Galatians 6:9

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Colossians 1:10

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:10

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We're in the business of raising autonomous adults NOT children here!

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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Christian outsourcing

So why is it that when an opening for a leadership role occurs, most churches immediately look to other places to fulfill that role, instead of looking within the local church itself?

This has been on my mind for awhile. All believers have been given Spiritual gifts, not all the same, but all possess a gift. We are many members, but one body. Why do so many people act as if only a small few possess Spiritual gifts? As if Joe Shmoe could not possibly be capable of ministering to the body of believers because he's just Joe Shmoe. Because he never got a degree in religion. Because he never was "taught" (by someone else) how to do things. Because he doesn't have experience. Because, because, because.

Does not the Holy Spirit teach us all things? Why would we be given Spiritual gifts, and the Holy Spirit to teach us, if we aren't good enough because we didn't go sit in lectures for 4 years to learn how to do something?

I'm not saying that there isn't a time and a place for "outsiders" to come and minister to a local church. Not at all. But, I do think it is wrong to go and outsource roles that God has designed to be fulfilled by those that comprise a specific local church- those that are native to that church. Look at the apostle Paul, he went from place to place proclaiming the gospel of Christ. He had others that came along with him and helped him too. He would spend a lot of time with local churches: teaching, encouraging, edifying, rebuking, nourishing them, BUT THEN he would leave. He would move on to another place and do the same. He would write and visit the churches he established and left. He was involved with them, but he was not fulfilling the leadership roles. Those were given to the local believers once they were established. The local believers are the ones that were ministering to each other.

So my question is, why do established churches tend to immediately seek outsiders to fulfill leadership roles? Say a youth pastor feels called to move to Africa. Would it be crazy of me to suggest that the local church look at itself and ask, which of us does God want to fulfill this role? Instead of, who can we call to come to us to fulfill this role? Do you not realize that you are then taking another person from their local church and creating a void there, which in turn causes that local church to go seek another person to take that place?

I'm not going to get into whether or not the status quo of "doing" church is "right." However, I am suggesting that there really is nothing special about anyone. We are all loved and cherished and worth dying for in Christ's eyes. We were chosen by God to glorify Him. I say we and not the small few pastors and deacons and elders and whoever you give a title to that we so frequently hold up higher than the rest of the body of believers. We are all to minister to each other. We are all to proclaim the gospel. We are all to glorify God. We are all to edify each other. It's not a small few does the work while the rest of us are destined to sit in the pews and watch. Yet that is what so many Christians have been trained, told, led to believe. It's truly sad to see.

I don't know if my jumbled thoughts came out in a coherent way. What do you all think? Do we believers so quickly look to outsource roles that should be fulfilled by those already within the congregation? Leave me your comments please!


2 comments:

  1. good thoughts... a local church should be bringing up its own workers... one of the jobs of the pastor is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry... every member ought to be in ministry and being trained for ministry!

    keep up the good work!

    Bro. Ramage

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  2. 1Cr 4:17 KJV - For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.
    God places great value on the faithful in a body. It would be very easy to find people to fill that leadership role if individual church members understood that faithfulness is one of the qualities God is looking for. (You could definitely teach some women about faithfulness:)

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